Order in space A.K. van der Vegt VSSD Other textbooks on mathematics, published by VSSD Mathematical Systems Theory, G. Olsder and J.W. van der Woude, x + 210 pp. See http://www.vssd.nl/hlf/a003.htm Numerical Methods in Scientific Computing, J. van Kan, A. Segal and F. Vermolen, xii + 279 pp. See http://www.vssd.nl/hlf/a002.htm By the author of Order in space: From Plastics to Polymers, A.K. van der Vegt, 268 pp. See http://www.vssd.nl/hlf/m028.htm © VSSD Edition on the internet, 2001 Printed edition 2006 Published by: VSSD Leeghwaterstraat 42, 2628 CA Delft, The Netherlands tel. +31 15 27 82124, telefax +31 15 27 87585, e-mail:
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[email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. NUR 918 ISBN-10: 90-71301-61-3 ISBN-13: 978-90-71301-61-2 Keywords: geometry 3 PREFACE This book deals with a very old subject. Many centuries ago some people were already fascinated by polyhedra, and they spent much time in investigating regular spatial structures. In the terminology of polyhedra we, therefore, meet the names of Archimedes, Pythagoras, Plato, Kepler etc.